AC Milan will look to book their spot in the Europa League group stages this week as they travel to Portugal to take on Rio Ave. But, do the Portuguese club have any chance of beating one of Europe’s elite?
Europa League Preview
AC Milan will be hoping to continue their excellent run of momentum that they had achieved at the back end of last season, as they look to book their place in the group stages of the Europa League on Thursday evening. Milan have started the season excellently, as they have won both of their league games so far this season. Defensively, they have been brilliant in these opening two games as they are yet to conceded a goal. They have won both Serie A games 2-0, with the victories coming against Bologna and Crotone.
Milan also won the second qualifying round game in the Europa League 2-0 against Shamrock Rovers, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Hakan Calhanoglu scoring the goals. It was a tougher assignment in the previous round, as they edged out a 3-2 win against Bodo/Glimt. Calhanoglu scored a brace in that win, while Lorenzo Colombo also scored once.
Rio Ave will be looking to create history this week, as they will be looking to reach the group stages for just the second time in their history. The first time that they achieved that feat came in the 2014-15 season, but they were knocked out after finishing bottom of their group. They managed to qualify for this stage after beating Besiktas in a penalty shootout in the previous round. Bruno Daniel Pereira Castro Moreira scored a late equaliser in the match to force the shootout, and that resilience will be something that they will need to show against Milan.
Rio Ave vs AC Milan Team News
Milan will be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic for this fixture, as he tested positive for COVID-19 last week. Meanwhile, Ante Rebic and Alessio Romagnoli will also be out. Carlos Mane, Junio and Ronan David Jeronime will be missing for the hosts.
Rio Ave vs AC Milan Prediction
Rio Ave have done brilliantly to get to this stage of the Europa League, but they haven’t come up against a team of the quality of AC Milan yet. This could prove to be a bridge too far for the Portuguese side, as we expect the Italian giants to win this tie.
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